*Editor’s Note: In 1995, the town of Mompox was declared a World Heritage Site (Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad) by UNESCO. Although the declaration has had many benefits and has certainly increased Mompox’s profile as a city designed, as UNESCO indicated, “in the [style of a] Spanish colonial city,” the charm implied both by the description and the recognition itself makes it easy to gloss over some of the difficulties of residents, including, especially, the kids whose work is appearing on this website.

Today, Sindy Paola writes about poverty and education. Her original article, written in Spanish, is presented first. Please scroll down to the bottom of the entry for the English translation.
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Yo soy Sindy Paola y vivo en la ciudad de Mompox. Este articulo que voy a escribir es con el proposito de mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas que viven en la pobreza, no solo en Mompox, sino tambien en toda Colombia. Ademas quisiera compartir con ustedes la problematica en cuanto a las oportunidades de estudio de ninos de baja clase social.

Bueno, primero que todo acerca de las personas pobres quiero decirles que muchas personas al ver las necesidades por las que ellos pasan la discriminacion y hacen de cuenta que no existen. Los rechazan en cuanto al trabajo y al estudio en vez de ayudarlos a salir adelante con esta problematica, brindandoles trabajo e oportunidades de vida.

Les quiero decir que en Colombia a diario mueren muchos ninos por causa de este fenomeno. Ahora quiero decirles acerca de las oportunidades de estudio son muy escasas. Bueno no que no halla, sino que en los colegios ingresan alumnos que no valoran a las oportunidades que les brinda el gobierno.

Les pido que piensen acerca de lo que he escrito en este articulo y me ayuden buscar pronta solucion en toda esta problematica que tanto afrontamos todas las personas que queremos el bien para nuestro patrimonio.

Les agradezco por leer todos los articulos que hemos escrito para mejorar lo nuestro y cuidar todo lo que esta el nuestro alrededor.
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I am Sindy Paola and I live in the city of Mompox, Colombia. The purpose of this article is to improve the quality of life of the people who live in poverty, not only in Mompox, but in all of Colombia. In addition, I’d like to share with you about the educational problems that affect children of the lower social class.

First, regarding poor people, I’d like to tell you that many people in this situation are discriminated against with respect to schooling and work opportunities. They are treated as if they don’t exist instead of helping them move forward by giving them work or other life opportunities. I’d like you to know that in Colombia, many children die every day because of this phenomenon.

Now I’d like to tell you that the opportunities to study are very scarce. It’s not that they don’t exist, but rather that the schools accept students who don’t value the opportunities that are given to them by the government.

I’d like to ask that you think about all that I’ve written in this article and think about how you can help to look for a solution for all these problems that we face every day, we the people who want the best for our patrimony.

Thank you for reading all of the articles that we have written with the intention of improving our community and taking better care of what surrounds us.

Written by: Sindy Paola,
Ninth grade, Institucion Educativa Normal Superior, Mompox
Photos by: Hernando Sanchez Villalba